The number of messages sent via the Weixin mobile app of Tencent (0700) on the eve of the Lunar New Year doubled from last year, the tech giant said.

Some 10 million messages were sent per minute during the peak period from 10pm to midnight through the mobile messager.

Tencent also noted a significant rise in the number of video messages, which it attributes to the "quiet arrival of 4G" in the mainland.

Weixin's social game, in which red packets are exchanged online, has also proved a huge success, with more than five million users joining on Thursday and Friday. They sent more than 20 million red packets or 9,412 per minute.

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Jack Ma Yun of rival Alibaba, reacting to comments that the red packet game is more popular than Alipay, said its success will only last as long as the holiday period.

Apart from Weixin, which has more than 270 million monthly active users, Tencent's desktop messenger QQ recorded 155 million users online at midnight of the first day of the Lunar New Year. The company said the numbers support the trend that mobile carrier messages, which come with charges, are becoming much less popular.

Meanwhile, US professional networking site LinkedIn is reportedly expanding in China by integrating users' profiles in Weixin.

The site, which claims to have four million users in the mainland, has also named former Google executive Derek Shen Boyang as its new China president.